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Announcement: Japan Blog Matsuri

Happy March to all readers! Spring is on its way here in Tokyo, though winter is still trying its best to hold on. It’s the beginning of March now, and we’re a few days away from the 1 year anniversary of last year’s disasters (March 11th). It’s been an interesting, eventful year, to say the least. Japan still gets constant reminders of that day; just this morning I was shaken awake by an earthquake.

Spring is a time for renewal. It’s a time to start over and to refresh things. It is my hope that this spring will be calm, enjoyable, and happy for everyone in Japan and the rest of the world. Last year, the world came together to support Japan in its time of need. This year, let’s celebrate the progress that has been made to rebuild, and re-connect with our communities.

In the spirit of this sentiment, arishaintokyo.com would like to officially announce it’ll be hosting the Japan Blog Matsuri for the month of March! The theme of this month’s matsuri is “Spring in Japan”. If you’re unfamiliar with this blog matsuri (or blog carnival), it’s simple: write a blog post (or create a video – that’s cool too, just please embed it in a blog post) relating to your understanding of spring in Japan. It can be about your favorite experiences, a memory, a popular festival, or anything else that strikes you as interesting. You do not need to be in Japan in order to submit an entry. Anything related to the topic is acceptable. Prepare your post or video, and include that you’re creating it to submit to the March Japan Blog Matsuri here at arishaintokyo.com. Then, submit the link to me via email. Near the end of the month, I’ll assemble all the entries for visitors to check out!

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Official Rules (from the Japan Blog Matsuri FAQ Homepage):

Article Submission

Everyone is welcome to contribute. The only requirement is that the submitted post is primarily in English. You don’t need to be a resident in Japan to take part, and you don’t even need to be the author to submit a story. The submission must just be somehow related to the current theme, and the host need only occasionally blog on Japan matters.

How to Submit an Article

Matsuri entries should first be posted online. Once posted, the url to the article needs to be sent to the host for that particular Matsuri. Instructions on how to submit an article will be included in the host’s Matsuri Announcement post and usually involves sending the url by email or leaving the url in the comment section of the Announcement post.

Rules and Guidelines

Japan Blog Matsuri submissions should abide by the following rules:

No material that is copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights, unless you are the owner of such rights or have permission from their rightful owner to post the material;

No falsehoods or misrepresentations that could be considered harmful;

No material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, violate any law, or is otherwise inappropriate;

No advertisements or solicitations of business;

No non-English material unless translations are included;

No off-topic material, i.e. articles unrelated to the announced Matsuri theme;

No articles which have already appeared in a previous Japan Blog Matsuri;

No material which insults, belittles, contains profanity or in other negative ways affects those reading it.

No more than one entry per author for each Matsuri.

The Matsuri host may refuse inclusion of an article in the Matsuri at his or her sole discretion without the need for explanation.

Multimedia is acceptable as long as it is embedded within a blog post.

Remember that readers may be clicking through dozens of entries, so:

Include a picture to catch their attention;

Use the first paragraph to summarize what the article is about;

Don’t make your article excessively long;

Thank the host!

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TO ENTER:

Send an email with a link to your entry to matsuri@arishaintokyo.com. Remember, the theme for entries is “Spring in Japan”, so be sure to submit something that’s in line with this concept.

Entries for this matsuri will be accepted until Friday, March 23rd. Please be sure to send me your info before then. If you have any questions about this matsuri, please feel free to ask in the comments or via email.

I’m looking forward to reading and watching your entries!

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2 Comments

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